What’s Really in Your Supplements?

This doesn’t really affect me as I live in the UK, however it appears that the FDA are going to be cracking down on health supplements. The problem until now is that supplements are viewed as being food which is something that some manufacturers have been abusing.

I remember seeing a TV show a few years ago about the appetite suppressing qualities of Hoodia. The presenter went to Africa to try it for himself, and sure enough he didn’t want to eat anything for 24 hours.

Unfortunately the world is full of people who would sell their Granny for a quick buck, which means many pills have appeared on the market claiming to be Hoodia when in fact it’s just caffeine.

The new rules set out by the FDA means that as of 24 August, this “will help ensure that dietary supplements are manufactured with controls that result in a consistent product free of contamination, with accurate labeling,” said Dr. Robert E. Brackett, director of FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

This surely has to be good news? The problem with many alternative therapies is that it can take some months for symptoms to improve, so you never really know if what you’re buying is the real deal. The same thing goes with stuff like how to cleanse your liver.

14 comments

I’m not too fond with the FDA they turn a blind eye too many pharmaceutical medications that have had serious side effects.

One of their latest plans would reclassify all vitamins, supplements, herbs, vegetable juices as FDA regulate drugs. What’s even crazier is that things such as massage oils/rocks would be classified as medicinal devices and would require FDA approval.

Sprouts and other anti cancer foods will be regulated as “drugs” no the FDA isn’t thrilled with natural remedies and has been itching to get their hands on it for some time.

They’re hypocritical

They want to label irradiated food as pasteurized. Are they crazy? They’ve been trying to put Vioxx back on the market, Thousands of people died from this and even the manufacturers pulled it from the market.

They still refuse to enforce their own laws when it comes to labeling unsafe chemicals in products for example in skin care product thereby continually poisoning many with cancer causing chemicals that don’t even have to be listed on the label.

FDA, I think, is very corrupt, they have an agendum, & they need to practice what they preach. I would be more willing to respect their “decisions” if they followed their own rules; however, they don’t.

It’s just a pity that you don’t really know what you’re buying. There’s so many companies making wild claims about products and it’s only when TV shows get it independently tested that you find out the truth.

Actually, there was another show last year where they exposed a company in the UK selling Hoodia but it turned out there wasn’t as much in the bottle as they claimed.

Don’t know if you’ve seen this video about the “FDA”… it’s quite funny

Not a fan of this either…totally agree with Opal! According to this “plan” or whatever they are calling it these days the FDA wants to take away my right to drink tea, practice yoga, and drink juice, and grow herbs (i.e. parsley, cilantro, dill, etc.) That’s beyond getting carried away. I have so many opinions on this it’s crazy…

EVEN BOTTLED WATER?! What’s next? Our right to breathe?

Thanks for posting this and making more people aware of what’s going on…more people need to know about it

April,
I’ll check it out and I agree there should be some type of policing I just don’t think the FDA is the one to do it, lol.
I’ve read the Town of Allopath but never saw the video, pretty funny!
I really like your website!

..and I agree it’s a shame that more people don’t know what they’re buying. They have every right to know.
I always tell people that natural doesn’t always mean safe and I also urge them to take a look at the ingredients on their drugs really research what goes into anything. My house is filled with books on pharmaceutical drugs along with herbs. I went back to school to receive my degree in Traditional Naturopathy.

I work in the “beauty” industry. I make natural skin & hair care products I found it appalling the amount of harmful substances that are put into seeminly safe products.

I knew someone here in the UK who once worked as a rep for a drug company that also manufacured nutrititional supplements. She told me that they were able to offer these supplements by mail order so cheaply because they used very cheap forms of the nutrients. Most of these cheaper forms are not absorbed well. It pays to know something about the forms of nutrients you are taking and well worth paying a bit more for a quality product.

It takes time for herbal supplements to work because of its holistic approach to healing that probes into the underlying causes of the disease; unlike the patented medicine that only treats the symptoms. Thus, its a cure in progress.